Method for the production of ethylene oxide

ABSTRACT

A method for the production of ethylene oxide wherein the partial pressure of water vapor at the inlet of the reactor is at least about 8 kPa using a high purity carrier comprising alpha-alumina, a promoting amount of at least one Group IA metal, and a promoting amount of rhenium.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for the production of anethylene oxide, an ethylene glycol, an ethylene glycol ether, anethylene carbonate or an ethanol amine.

INTRODUCTION

Vapor phase water is introduced into the ethylene oxide reactor in atypical commercial reactor in the feed gas at the inlet of the reactoras well as by generation within the reactor due to the completecombustion of a portion of the ethylene fed to the reactor to carbondioxide and water.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,546,592 states that it is “well known that low CO₂levels are useful in improving the selectivity of high selectivitycatalysts. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,677; U.S. Pat. No. 7,193,094;US 2007/0129557; WO 2004/07873; WO 2004/07874; and EP 2,155,708. Thesepatents also disclose that water concentrations in the reactor feedshould be maintained at a level of at most 0.35 mole percent, preferablyless than 0.2 mole percent.” Col. 1, lines 53-60. To provide these lowlevels of water concentration, U.S. Pat. No. 8,546,592 teachescontrolling presence of the water vapor in the catalyst bed such thatthe ratio of the partial pressure of water (PPH2O) divided by the vaporpressure of water (VPH2O) is less than 0.006, preferably less than0.004. U.S. Pat. No. 8,546,592 describes a number of ways by which theratio of the partial pressure of water (PPH2O) divided by the vaporpressure of water (VPH2O) can be reduced. One or more of the methodsdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,546,592 requires additional capital and/orenergy costs for the plant operation (e.g., increasing the cooling ofthe overhead streams coming from the ethylene oxide removal and/orcarbon dioxide removal sections of the plant that return to the ethyleneoxide reactor, operation of the reactor at a higher temperature thanrequired) or other undesirable consequences (e.g., reduction in workrate).

It is desirable to provide a method for the production of ethylene oxidewithout having to expend the capital and/or energy needed to keep, orincur other undesirable consequences of keeping, the inlet waterconcentration at such low levels.

SUMMARY

We have found a method for the production of ethylene oxide wherein thepartial pressure of water vapor at the inlet of the reactor is at leastabout 8 kPa. The method comprises providing to a reactor a reactor inletgas mixture comprising ethylene, oxygen, one or more gas phasepromoters, water and carbon dioxide, the components of the gas mixturesubsequently being contacted within the reactor under epoxidationreaction conditions with a catalyst comprising a catalytically effectiveamount of silver supported on high purity carrier, a promoting amount ofat least one Group IA metal, and a promoting amount of rhenium. Areactor outlet gas mixture comprising ethylene oxide, ethylene, oxygen,water and carbon dioxide is yielded from the reactor. At least a portionof the reactor outlet gas mixture is provided to an ethylene oxideabsorber to produce an ethylene oxide stream and a treated gas streamcomprising water and carbon dioxide. At least a portion of the treatedgas stream is provided to a carbon dioxide absorber unit to partiallyremove carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide absorber unit produces arecycle gas stream comprising carbon dioxide and water. At least aportion of the recycle gas stream from the carbon dioxide absorber unitis combined with fresh feeds comprising oxygen and ethylene and at leasta portion of a remaining portion, if any, of the treated gas stream toform the reactor inlet gas mixture. The partial pressure of water vaporat the inlet of the reactor is continuously maintained at at least about8 kPa over a period corresponding to the production of at least 250kmole of ethylene oxide per cubic meter of catalyst.

In an additional embodiment, the method comprises providing to a reactora reactor inlet gas mixture comprising ethylene, oxygen, one or more gasphase promoters, water and carbon dioxide, wherein the one or more gasphase promoters are organic chlorides, the components of the gas mixturesubsequently being contacted within the reactor under epoxidationreaction conditions with a catalyst comprising a catalytically effectiveamount of silver supported on high purity carrier, a promoting amount ofat least one Group IA metal, and a promoting amount of rhenium. Areactor outlet gas mixture comprising ethylene oxide, ethylene, oxygen,water and carbon dioxide is yielded from the reactor. At least a portionof the reactor outlet gas mixture is provided to an ethylene oxideabsorber to produce an ethylene oxide stream and a treated gas streamcomprising water and carbon dioxide. At least a portion of the treatedgas stream is combined with fresh feeds comprising ethylene and at leasta portion of the combined stream is provided to a carbon dioxideabsorber unit to partially remove carbon dioxide. At least a portion ofthe recycle gas stream from the carbon dioxide absorber unit is combinedwith fresh feeds comprising oxygen and at least a portion of a remainingportion, if any, of the treated gas stream to form the reactor inlet gasmixture. The partial pressure of water vapor at the inlet of the reactoris continuously maintained at at least about 8 kPa over a periodcorresponding to the production of at least 250 kmole of ethylene oxideper cubic meter of catalyst.

Surprisingly and unexpectedly, in the production of ethylene oxide usingsuch catalysts, the rate of ethylene oxide production per volume of thecatalyst is maintained or even increased as compared to the rate ofethylene oxide production per volume of the same catalyst under the sameepoxidation reaction conditions except that the partial pressure ofwater vapor at the reactor inlet is less than about 8 kPa.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts the bivariate analysis (delta selectivity of added wateron-off vs delta activity, measured by change in ΔEO at constant reactortemperature, of added water on-off) of Catalyst Nos. 1 through 13 of theExamples herein.

FIG. 2 depicts a plot of the observed effects of the test according tothe Catalyst Testing Protocol, of Catalyst 2, under Condition 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present specification provides certain definitions and methods tobetter define the present invention and to guide those of ordinary skillin the art in the practice of the present invention. Provision, or lackof the provision, of a definition for a particular term or phrase is notmeant to imply any particular importance, or lack thereof; rather, andunless otherwise noted, terms are to be understood according toconventional usage by those of ordinary skill in the relevant art.Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as is commonly understood by one of skill in theart to which this invention belongs.

The “efficiency” of the oxidation, which is synonymous with“selectivity,” refers to the total amount, in molar percent, ofconverted or reacted ethylene that forms a particular product. Forexample, the “selectivity to ethylene oxide” refers to the percentage ona molar basis of converted or reacted olefin that forms ethylene oxide.Certain “high efficiency” or “high selectivity” silver-based catalystsare highly selective towards ethylene oxide production. For example,when using certain modern catalysts in the epoxidation of ethylene, thetheoretically maximal efficiency towards ethylene oxide can reach valuesabove 85.7 percent, for example 88 percent, or 89 percent, or above. Asused herein, the terms “high efficiency catalyst” and “high selectivitycatalyst” refer to a catalyst that is capable of producing ethylene fromethylene and oxygen at an efficiency greater than 85.7 percent. Theobserved actual efficiency of a high efficiency catalyst may fall below85.7 percent under certain conditions based on process variables,catalyst age, etc. However, if the catalyst is capable of achieving atleast an 85.7 percent efficiency, at any point during its life, forexample, under any set of epoxidation reaction conditions, or byextrapolating lower efficiencies observed at two different oxygenconversions obtained by varying gas hourly space velocity to thelimiting case of zero oxygen conversion, it is considered to be a highefficiency catalyst.

The “activity” of a catalyst can be quantified in a number of ways, onebeing the mole percent of ethylene oxide contained in the outlet streamof the reactor relative to that in the inlet stream (the mole percent ofethylene oxide in the inlet stream typically, but not necessarily,approaches zero percent) while the reactor temperature is maintainedsubstantially constant; and another being the temperature required tomaintain a given rate of ethylene oxide production. In many instances,activity is measured over a period of time in terms of the mole percentof ethylene oxide produced at a specified constant temperature.Alternatively, activity may be measured as a function of the temperaturerequired to sustain production of a specified constant mole percent ofethylene oxide (concentration). The ethylene oxide concentration relatesto the ethylene oxide production rate because the production rate may beobtained by multiplying the delta ethylene oxide concentration asdefined hereinbelow and the flow rate of the reactor inlet gas mixture.The ethylene oxide production rate/catalyst volume may be determined bydividing the production rate by the volume of the catalyst bed. Thus,activity may also be measured by the rate of ethylene oxideproduction/volume of the catalyst bed, for example, the kilograms ofethylene oxide produced per hour per cubic meter of catalyst.

The term “promoter” as used herein refers to a component which workseffectively to provide an improvement in one or more of the catalyticproperties of the catalyst when compared to a catalyst not containingsuch component. As used herein, the term “co-promoter” refers to amaterial that—when combined with a promoter—increases the promotingeffect of a reaction for a particular product to a greater extent thanwould the promoter alone. “Promoters” can be materials that areintroduced to catalysts during the preparation of the catalysts (solidphase promoters). In addition, “promoters” can also be gaseous materialsthat are introduced to the epoxidation reactor feed (gas phasepromoters).

A “promoting amount” of a certain component of a catalyst refers to anamount of that component that works effectively to provide animprovement in one or more of the catalytic properties of that catalystwhen compared to a catalyst not containing said component. Examples ofcatalytic properties include, inter alia, operability (resistance torun-away), efficiency, activity, conversion, stability and yield. It isunderstood by one skilled in the art that one or more of the individualcatalytic properties may be enhanced by the “promoting amount” whileother catalytic properties may or may not be enhanced or may even bediminished. It is further understood that different catalytic propertiesmay be enhanced at different operating conditions. For example, acatalyst having enhanced efficiency at one set of operating conditionsmay be operated at a different set of conditions wherein the improvementshows up in the activity rather than the efficiency and an operator ofan ethylene oxide plant will intentionally change the operatingconditions in order to take advantage of certain catalytic propertieseven at the expense of other catalytic properties in order to maximizeprofits by taking into account feedstock costs, energy costs, by-productremoval costs and the like.

“The partial pressure of the water vapor at the reactor inlet” refers tothe partial pressure of water vapor in the reactor inlet gas mixtureprior to contacting the catalyst.

The terms “carrier” and “support” are used interchangeably herein. A“high purity” carrier comprises greater than about 95 weight percentalpha-alumina and, as measured by X-ray fluorescence (“XRF”), less thanabout 0.0637 weight percent sodium the weight percent of thealpha-alumina and the sodium being calculated on the weight of thecarrier. The carrier may comprise less than about 0.060, 0.055, 0.054,0.052, 0.050, 0.045, 0.040, 0.035, 0.030, 0.025, 0.020, 0.015, 0.010,0.005, 0.004, 0.003, or 0.002 weight percent sodium, calculated on theweight of the carrier.

In a separate embodiment, the high purity carrier comprises greater thanabout 95 weight percent alpha-alumina and comprises less than 10mmole/kg of carrier of sodium and potassium combined.

“Surface area,” as used herein, refers to the surface area of thecarrier as determined by the BET (Brunauer, Emmett and Teller) method bynitrogen as described in the Journal of the American Chemical Society 60(1938) pp. 309-316.

“Total pore volume” means pore volume of the carrier and is typicallydetermined by mercury porosimetry. The measurements reported herein usedthe method described in Webb & Orr, Analytical Methods in Fine ParticleTechnology (1997), p. 155, using mercury intrusion to 60,000 psia usingMicromeritics Autopore IV 9520, assuming 130° contact angle, 0.485 N/Msurface tension of Hg.

“Porosity” is the proportion of the non-solid volume to the total volumeof material. Total pore volume as measured by mercury porosimetry orwater absorption may be used to estimate porosity by those of skill inthe art. Put another way, porosity is defined as the void volume(unoccupied space) divided by the total volume of the sample.

“Fresh feed” refers to the provision of additional quantities ofparticular components (e.g., ethylene, oxygen, gas phase promoters,ballast gas) in order to achieve target concentrations in the reactorinlet gas mixture to compensate for losses due to, e.g., conversion toother products, losses through purge streams, absorption into liquidstreams, and the like.

The term “Shrink Factor” represents the net volumetric reductionoccurring due to the production of the ethylene oxide. For every mole ofethylene oxide produced, there is a net reduction of 0.5 moles of totalgas resulting in a corresponding reduction in the volumetric flow rate.The Shrink Factor is typically calculated as follows:(200+EO_(inlet)/()200+EO_(Outlet)), where EO_(inlet) and EO_(outlet) arethe concentrations of ethylene oxide in the reactor inlet and outlet gasmixtures, respectively. Delta ethylene oxide concentration, alsoreferred to as ΔEO %, is the change in ethylene oxide concentration inmole percent across the reactor and is calculated from the EO_(inlet)and EO_(outlet) as follows: ΔEO %=SF*EO_(outlet)−EO_(inlet).

A procedure for preparing a high-purity alpha-alumina carrier involvestreatment of a carrier material, particularly gamma-alumina, with anorganic or inorganic fluorine-containing substance, preferably inaqueous solution, and thereafter firing the treated carrier at asuitable temperature. The carrier may either be extruded by conventionaltechniques known to the art and formed into pellets after fluorinetreatment and before firing or, alternatively, formed, e.g., extruded,pellets may be fluorine-treated and then fired. The fluorine-containingsubstance is, preferably, a volatile material or one which can bereadily volatilized under firing conditions. Examples of suitablefluorine-containing materials include aluminum trifluoride, ammoniumfluoride, hydrofluoric acid, and dichlorodifluoromethane. The fluorinecompound is used in an amount sufficient to remove a major portion ofthe sodium present in the sample. This amount will, of course, vary withthe amount of sodium present in the sample but will also depend on otherfactors, such as the condition under which the carrier is treated, suchas the firing temperature and heating rate, as well as the depth of thebed of material being treated, the amount of gamma-alumina beingtreated, the level of contamination of the gamma-alumina, and how wellthe firing chamber is sealed. Typically, a suitable amount of fluorinecompound is not more than about 4 percent, by weight, based on theweight of the carrier material being treated. Preferably, the fluorinecompound is present in a minimum amount of about 0.8 percent, by weight.A suitable firing temperature for fluorine-treated alumina is generallyless than about 1,200° C., preferably from a temperature over 750 toabout 1,100° C. The rate of heating depends in part on the amount offluorine compound used. The treatment of support materials withfluorine-containing substances may provide a collateral benefit inconverting the support material to one having a “platelet” morphology.

High purity carriers also may be made by the processes described in U.S.Pat. Nos. 3,950,507 and 4,994,587 and WO 2008/054564. High puritycarriers can be prepared by optionally mixing zirconium silicate withboehmite alumina (AlOOH) and/or gamma-alumina, peptizing the aluminaswith a mixture containing an acidic component and halide anions(preferably fluoride anions) to provide peptized halogenated alumina,forming (for example, by extruding or pressing) the peptized halogenatedalumina to provide formed peptized halogenated alumina, drying theformed peptized halogenated alumina to provide dried formed alumina, andcalcining the dried formed alumina. In one embodiment, the carriermaterial comprises at least about 95 weight percent α-alumina and lessthan about 30 parts per million acid-leachable alkali metals by weight,the weight percent of the α-alumina and the concentration of theacid-leachable alkali metals being calculated on the weight of thecarrier, where the acid-leachable alkali metals are selected fromlithium, sodium, potassium, and mixtures thereof. One method ofmeasuring nitric acid leachable alkali metals is to prepare samples induplicate by leaching 2 grams of unground carrier in about 22 grams 10%nitric acid solution (prepared by adding 10 mL concentrated nitric acidto 90 mL ASTM type 1 water). The samples are heated in a constanttemperature oven for one hour at 90° C. The samples are cooled to roomtemperature and filtered with a 0.45 micron syringe filter. Eachsolution is then analyzed, such as on a Perkin-Elmer Optima 3300 RLInductively Coupled Plasma (“ICP”) emission spectrometer.

Alternatively, an alpha-alumina support of at least 95% purity can beprepared by compounding (mixing) the raw materials, extrusion, dryingand a high temperature calcination. In this case, the starting rawmaterials usually include one or more alpha-alumina powder(s) withdifferent properties, and a burnout material (usually an organiccompound) used in the mix to provide desired porosity after its removalduring the calcination step. The levels of impurities in the finishedcarrier are determined by the purity of the raw materials used, andtheir degree of volatilization during the calcination step. Commonimpurities may include silica, alkali and alkaline earth metal oxidesand trace amounts of metal and/or non-metal-containing additives.

Further, the high-purity carrier may be prepared by any conventionalmethod of removing sodium metals from a solid, particularly mineral ormineral-type material suitable in other respects as a support material.Such treatment should not, however, affect the mechanical or structuralcharacteristics of the support material to the point where they becomeimpractical, nor chemically alter the support material in a manner whichadversely affects the catalytic performance indices of efficiency,activity, or catalyst stability. Typically, the techniques involveextraction and/or volatilization of the sodium present. A suitableextraction procedure may involve conversion of the sodium present to amore easily extractable material either in the same step in whichextraction takes place or in separate conversion and extraction steps. Asuitable volatilization procedure typically includes an initial step inwhich the sodium present in the support is converted to a material whichis volatile upon heating. In some instances, it may be preferable toinitially extract as much of the sodium present as possible, followed bya volatilization procedure to remove residual sodium. Exemplary ofextraction or leaching procedures is treatment of the support materialwith a mineral acid, particularly nitric acid in a concentration ofabout 10 percent, by volume, at a temperature of about 90° C., for aperiod of about 1 hour and thereafter washing the carrier with water.The rinsed support material is then dried at a temperature of from about100 to 1,000° C. for a period of from about 1 to about 3 hours.

The carrier preferably has a surface area, as measured by the B.E.T.method of less than 20 m²/g and more in particular from 0.05 to 20 m²/g.Preferably the B.E.T. surface area of the support is in the range of 0.1to 10, more preferably from 0.1 to 3.0 m²/g. Preferably, the B.E.T.surface area of the support is at least about 0.5 m²/g, and morepreferably, at least about 0.7 m²/g. The alpha-alumina carrierpreferably has a total pore volume as measured by mercury porosimetry offrom about 0.1 to about 0.85 cc/g by volume, more preferably from about0.25 cc/g to about 0.75 cc/g and a median pore diameter from about 1 toabout 50 microns. The alpha-alumina carrier preferably has a waterabsorption of from about 10 to about 85%, more preferably from about 25to about 75%.

The alpha-alumina support can be of any suitable shape. Exemplary shapesof the support includes pills, chunks, tablets, pieces, pellets, rings,spheres, wagon wheels, toroids having star shaped inner and/or outersurfaces, and the like. The support can be of any size suitable foremployment in reactors. For example, in a fixed bed ethylene oxidereactor having a plurality of parallel elongated tubes (in a suitableshell) 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.5 cm) outer diameter and 15 to 45 feet(4.5 to 13.5 m) long filled with catalyst, it is desirable to employalpha alumina support having a rounded shape, such as, for example,spheres, pellets, rings, cross-partitioned rings, penta-rings, tablets,and the like, having diameters from 0.1 inch (0.25 cm) to 0.8 inch (2cm).

In certain embodiments, the carrier will desirably be comprised largelyof particles in the form of platelets having at least one substantiallyflat major surface having a lamellate or platelet morphology, at least50 percent of which (by number) have a major dimension of less thanabout 50 microns. As used herein, the term “platelet” means that aparticle has at least one substantially flat major surface, and thatsome of the particles have two, or sometimes more, flat surfaces. The“substantially flat major surface” referred to herein may becharacterized by a radius of curvature of at least about twice thelength of the major dimension of the surface.

The method of this invention uses a catalyst which comprises silver as acatalytically active metal. Generally, the high purity carrier isimpregnated with a catalytic amount of silver, which is any amount ofsilver capable of catalyzing the direct oxidation of ethylene withoxygen or an oxygen-containing gas to ethylene oxide. In making such acatalyst, the carrier is typically impregnated (one or more times) withone or more silver compound solutions sufficient to allow the silver tobe supported on the carrier.

Catalysts for this method for the production of ethylene oxide may beprepared on the high purity carriers by impregnating the carrier with asolution of one or more silver compounds, depositing the silverthroughout the pores of the carrier and reducing the silver compound asis well known in the art. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,511,938 and5,187,140. The reduction of cationic silver to metallic silver may beaccomplished during a step in which the catalyst is dried. This may bethe case if the impregnation solution comprises a reducing agent, forexample, an amine. Impregnation of the carrier is the preferredtechnique for silver deposition because it utilizes silver moreefficiently than coating procedures, the latter being generally unableto effect substantial silver deposition onto the interior surfaces ofthe carrier.

In addition to silver, the catalyst comprises a promoting amount of atleast one Group IA metal and the catalyst further comprises a promotingamount of rhenium. Optional additional solid phase promoters includeelements or compounds from the group of nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus,boron, fluorine, Group IIA metals, molybdenum, tungsten, chromium,titanium, hafnium, zirconium, vanadium, manganese, thallium, thorium,tantalum, niobium, gallium and germanium and mixtures thereof.Preferably the Group IA metals are selected from sodium, lithium,potassium, and cesium. Most preferably the Group IA metal is sodium,lithium, and/or cesium. Examples of some anion promoters that may beemployed with the present invention include the halides, for example,fluorides and chlorides, and the oxyanions of the elements other thanoxygen having an atomic number of 5 to 83 of Groups 3b to 7b and 3a to7a of the Periodic Table. Manganese promoters may be provided by, forexample, manganese acetate, manganese ammonium sulfate, manganesecitrate, manganese dithionate, manganese oxalate, manganous nitrate,manganous sulfate, and manganate anion, for example permanganate anion,and the like. To stabilize the manganese component in certainimpregnating solutions, it may be necessary to add a chelating compoundsuch as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or a suitable saltthereof.

Examples of solid phase promoter compositions and their characteristicsas well as methods for incorporating the promoters as part of thecatalyst are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,187,140, 6,511,938,5,504,053, 5,102, 848, 4, 916,243, 4,908,343, and 5,059,481, 4,761,394,4,766,105, 4,808,738, 4,820,675, and 4,833,261.

Preferably, the catalyst used in the method of the present invention isa high selectivity catalyst.

The method may also be practiced using catalysts which comprise, insteadof a promoting amount of rhenium, a promoter of the type comprising atleast one efficiency-enhancing salt of a member of a redox-half reactionpair which is employed in an epoxidation process in the presence of agaseous nitrogen-containing component capable of forming a gaseousefficiency-enhancing member of a redox-half reaction pair under reactionconditions. Catalysts of this type are described in U.S. Pat. Nos.8,389,751 and 8,362,284.

When used, the rhenium promoter can be provided in various forms, forexample, as the metal, as a covalent compound, as a cation or as ananion. Examples of rhenium compounds include the rhenium salts such asrhenium halides, the rhenium oxyhalides, the rhenates, the perrhenates,the oxides and the acids of rhenium. However, the alkali metalperrhenates, ammonium perrhenate, alkaline earth metal perrhenates,silver perrhenates, other perrhenates and rhenium heptoxide can also besuitably utilized. Rhenium heptoxide, Re₂O₇, when dissolved in water,hydrolyzes to perrhenic acid, HReO₄, or hydrogen perrhenate. Thus, forpurposes of this specification, rhenium heptoxide can be considered tobe a perrhenate, that is, ReO₄. Similar chemistries can be exhibited byother metals such as molybdenum and tungsten. Optionally a rheniumco-promoter is used. The rhenium co-promoter may be selected from one ormore of sulfur, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphorus, boron, andcompounds thereof.

Silver is present in an amount greater than about 5 percent, greaterthan about 10 percent, greater than about 15 percent, greater than about20 percent, greater than about 25 percent, preferably, greater thanabout 27 percent, and more preferably, greater than about 30 percent byweight, based on the weight of the catalyst. Typically, the amount ofsilver supported on the carrier is less than about 70 percent, and morepreferably, less than about 50 percent by weight, based on the weight ofthe catalyst.

The rhenium component is often provided in an amount of at least 1 ppmw,at least 5 ppmw, for example, 10 ppmw to 3000 ppmw, often between 20ppmw and 2000 ppmw, calculated as the weight of rhenium based on thetotal weight of the catalyst.

The amount of anion promoter may vary widely, for example, from 0.0005weight percent to 2 weight percent, preferably from 0.001 weight percentto 0.5 weight percent based on the total weight of the catalyst. Theconcentration of the alkali metal promoters in the finished catalyst isnot narrow and may vary over a wide range. The optimum alkali metalpromoter concentration for a particular catalyst will be dependent uponperformance characteristics, such as catalyst efficiency, rate ofcatalyst aging and reaction temperature.

The concentration of alkali metal (based on the weight of cation, forexample cesium) in the finished catalyst may vary from 0.0005 to 1.0 wt.%, preferably from 0.005 to 0.5 wt. %. The preferred amount of cationpromoter deposited on or present on the surface of the support orcatalyst generally lies between 10 ppm and 4000 ppm, preferably 15 ppmand 3000 ppm, and more preferably between 20 ppm and 2500 ppm by weightof cation calculated on the total support material. Amounts between 50ppm and 2000 ppm are frequently most preferable. When the alkali metalcesium is used in mixture with other cations, the ratio of cesium to anyother alkali metal and alkaline earth metal salt(s), if used, to achievedesired performance is not narrow and may vary over a wide range. Theratio of cesium to the other cation promoters may vary from 0.0001:1 to10,000:1, preferably from 0.001:1 to 1,000:1.

The desired amount of the manganese deposited on the carrier may bedecided based upon the silver content of the catalyst, the amounts andtypes of other promoters present and the chemical and physicalproperties of the support. In one embodiment, the manganese is presenton the catalyst in an amount of at least 20 ppmw, more preferably atleast 60 ppmw calculated as the weight of manganese. In someembodiments, the amount of manganese on the catalyst intermediate or thecatalyst falls within the range of 70 ppmw to 1000 ppmw, preferably 80ppmw to 500 ppmw calculated as the weight of manganese.

Well known methods can be employed to analyze for the amounts of silverand solid promoters deposited onto the alumina carrier. The skilledartisan may employ, for example, material balances to determine theamounts of any of these deposited components. Alternatively, anysuitable analytical technique for determining elemental composition,such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF), may be employed to determine theamounts of the deposited components.

Commercial ethylene oxide processes vary in actual configuration, butthe processes have in common three primary sections: reaction system,oxide recovery, and oxide purification. In the reaction system, areactor inlet gas mixture which comprises ethylene, an oxygen-containinggas, water, carbon dioxide, and one or more gas phase promoters, whereinthe gas phase promoters are is introduced into a reactor andsubsequently contacted with a catalyst disposed within the reactor.

The oxygen-containing gas may comprise substantially pure oxygen or air.If pure oxygen is used, ballast gases or diluents such as nitrogen ormethane may also be included to maintain the oxygen concentration belowthe maximum level allowed by flammability considerations. Theconcentration of oxygen in the reactor inlet gas mixture may vary over awide range, and in practice, flammability is generally the limitingfactor for oxygen concentration. Generally, the oxygen concentration inthe reactor inlet gas mixture will be at least about one (1) molepercent and preferably at least about two (2) mole percent. The oxygenconcentration will generally be no more than about fifteen (15) molepercent and preferably no more than about ten (10) mole percent. Theballast gas (e.g., nitrogen or methane) is generally from about 50 molepercent to about 80 mole percent of the total composition of the reactorinlet gas mixture.

The concentration of ethylene in the reactor inlet gas mixture may varyover a wide range. However, it is preferably at least about eighteen(18) mole percent and more preferably at least about twenty (20) molepercent. The concentration of ethylene in the reactor inlet gas mixtureis preferably no greater than about 50 mole percent, and more preferablyis no greater than about 40 mole percent.

The gas phase promoter is generally a compound that enhances theefficiency and/or activity of the process for producing ethylene oxide.Preferred gas phase promoters include organic chlorides. Morepreferably, the gas phase promoter is at least one selected from thegroup consisting of methyl chloride, ethyl chloride, ethylenedichloride, vinyl chloride, and mixtures thereof. Ethyl chloride andethylene dichloride are most preferred as the gas phase promoter feed.Using chlorohydrocarbon gas phase promoters as an example, it isbelieved that the ability of the promoter to enhance the performance(e.g., efficiency and/or activity) of the process for ethylene oxidedepends on the extent to which the gas phase promoter chlorinates thesurface of the catalyst in the epoxidation reactor, for example, bydepositing particular chlorine species such as atomic chlorine orchloride ions on the catalyst. However, hydrocarbons lacking chlorineatoms are believed to strip chlorides from the catalyst, and therefore,detract from the overall performance enhancement provided by the gasphase promoter. Discussions of this phenomenon may be found in Berty,“Inhibitor Action of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons in the Oxidation ofEthylene to Ethylene Oxide,” Chemical Engineering Communications, Vol.82 (1989) at 229-232 and Berty, “Ethylene Oxide Synthesis,” AppliedIndustrial Catalysis, Vol. I (1983) at 207-238. Paraffinic compounds,such as ethane or propane, are believed to be especially effective atstripping chlorides from the catalyst. However, olefins, such asethylene and propylene, are also believed to act to strip chlorides fromthe catalyst. Some of these hydrocarbons may also be introduced asimpurities in the ethylene feed. Typically, the preferred concentrationof ethane in the reactor inlet gas mixture, when present, is from 0 toabout 2 mole percent. Given the competing effects of the gas phasepromoter and the chloride-removing hydrocarbons, it is convenient todefine an “overall catalyst chloriding effectiveness value” thatrepresents the net effect of the promoting and non-promoting gas phasespecies in halogenating (or chloriding) the catalyst. “Overall catalystchloriding effectiveness value” is defined and explained in U.S. Pat.Nos. 8,389,751 and 8,362,284.

In addition to an organic chloride gas phase promoter, one or moregaseous components capable of generating at least oneefficiency-enhancing member of a redox half reaction pair may beemployed as a gas phase promoters. Both a nitrogen-containing gas phasepromoter and an organic chloride gas phase promoter can be used.

The effectiveness of a particular gaseous nitrogen-containing promoteris determined by its ability to generate the active nitrogen andoxygen-containing members of a redox half reaction pair in the catalyst.See U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,751. As a result, it is preferred to determineexperimentally the effectiveness of the gaseous promoter to be used inthe process. See U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,751. With catalysts of the typeemployed in this invention, as the partial pressure of the water vaporin the reactor inlet gas mixture increases, the overall chloridingeffectiveness value and the concentrations of the gaseousnitrogen-containing promoters (if present) should be re-optimized,generally resulting in a decrease in the value of such levels.

In the reaction system, the reactor inlet gas mixture is provided to anoxidation reactor which contains the catalyst. Conventional, commercialfixed-bed ethylene-oxide reactors are suitable for use in the presentinvention, and they include a plurality of parallel elongated tubes thathave inside diameters in the range of from about 20 to 66 mm. The tubesare packed with the catalyst that provides for the partial oxidation ofethylene with oxygen to ethylene oxide. The tubes are typically suitablefor use in a shell-and-tube type reactor and are formed into a bundlefor placement into the shell of the reactor. The epoxidation reaction isgenerally exothermic and thus requires a coolant system. Thus, a coolantsystem (e.g., a cooling jacket or a hydraulic circuit with a coolantfluid such as a heat transfer fluid or boiling water) is provided toregulate the temperature of the epoxidation reaction.

The epoxidation reaction temperature is in the range of from about 200°C. to 300° C. It should be noted that the terms “reaction temperature,”“epoxidation temperature” or “epoxidation reaction temperature” refer toany selected temperature(s) that are directly or indirectly indicativeof the catalyst bed temperature. Thus, the reaction temperature may be acatalyst bed temperature at a specific location in the catalyst bed, anumerical average of several catalyst bed temperature measurements madealong one or more catalyst bed dimensions (e.g., along the length), thereactor outlet gas temperature, the reactor coolant outlet temperatureor the reactor coolant inlet temperature.

The epoxidation reaction is carried out at a temperature that ispreferably at least about 200° C., more preferably at least about 210°C., and most preferably at least about 220° C. Reaction temperatures ofno more than 300° C. are preferred, and reaction temperatures of no morethan about 290° C. are more preferred. Reaction temperatures of no morethan about 280° C. are most preferred. The reactor pressure is selectedbased on the desired mass velocity and productivity and ranges generallyfrom about 5 atm (506 kPa) to about 30 atm (3.0 MPa). The gas hourlyspace velocity (GHSV) is preferably greater than about 3000 hr⁻¹, morepreferably greater than about 4,000 hr⁻¹, and most preferably greaterthan about 5,000 hr⁻¹.

The resulting reactor outlet gas mixture comprises ethylene oxideproduct, carbon dioxide, water, as well as unreacted ethylene andoxygen, a ballast gas or diluent such as methane or nitrogen. The gas issent to the ethylene oxide recovery section.

In general, the recovery section in the ethylene oxide process involvesthe absorption and refining of ethylene oxide. In the ethylene oxideabsorber, a water stream is used to separate the ethylene oxide from theother gases, creating an ethylene oxide stream and a treated gas stream.The ethylene oxide stream is removed from the ethylene oxide absorber.Ethylene oxide absorbers are described in US Publication 2010/0036176A1and U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,389. The treated gas stream or some portion ofthe treated gas stream, is sent from the ethylene oxide absorber to acarbon dioxide absorber unit. Optionally, a fresh feed comprisingethylene may be combined with at least a portion of the treated gasstream to form a combined stream and at least a portion of this combinedstream is sent to the carbon dioxide absorber unit.

A portion of the portion of the treated gas stream or combined streamthat is fed to the carbon dioxide absorber unit exits the carbon dioxideabsorber unit as a recycle stream, and is mixed with fresh feeds (oxygenand optionally ethylene) and at least a portion of a remaining portion,if any, of the treated gas stream and fed back to the oxidation reactor.The reactor inlet gas mixture comprises ethylene, carbon dioxide whichwas not removed in the carbon dioxide absorber unit, water, oxygen gasand other gases, such as the gas phase promoters, as well as the ballastgas. A “remaining portion, if any, of the treated gas stream” is theportion, if any, of the treated gas stream that is not sent to thecarbon dioxide absorber unit nor purged from the reaction process.

The partial pressure of the water vapor at the reactor inlet iscontinuously maintained at at least about 8 kPa for the production of atleast 250 kmole of ethylene oxide per cubic meter (kmole m⁻³) of thecatalyst, at least about 500, 1000, 2000, 2500, 5000, 7500, 10,000,15,000, 20,000, 25,000, 50,000, 75,000, 100,000, or 200,000 kmole ofethylene oxide per cubic meter (kmole m⁻³) of the catalyst, where thevolume of the catalyst is measured as the packed volume of the reactor.Alternatively, for a larger scale production of ethylene oxide (e.g.,one where more than about 25 kg of catalyst are charged to a reactor(“catalyst charge”), the partial pressure of the water vapor in thereactor inlet gas stream is continuously maintained at at least about 8kPa for at least one quarter of the time before the catalyst charge isexchanged, at least one-third of the time before the catalyst charge isexchanged, one-half of the time before the catalyst charge is changed,or at least three-quarters of the time before the catalyst charge isexchanged. The “packed volume of the reactor” is the volume of thereactor that is actually occupied by the catalyst bed.

The partial pressure of the water vapor at the reactor inlet is at leastabout 8 kPa, 9 kPa, 10 kPa, 11 kPa, 12 kPa, 13 kPa, 14 kPa, 15 kPa, 16kPa, 17 kPa, 18 kPa, 19 kPa, 20 kPa, 25 kPa, 30 kPa, 33 kPa, 35 kPa or40 kPa. Preferably, the partial pressure of the water vapor at thereactor inlet is no more than about 60 kPa, 50 kPa or 40 kPa.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the partial pressure ofwater vapor at the reactor inlet can be increased, for example, by theintroduction of water or by steam injection or by increasing thetemperature of the recycle stream from the carbon dioxide absorber unitand/or the treated stream from the ethylene oxide absorber.

The ethylene oxide produced by the present epoxidation method maytypically be processed to provide further downstream products, such as,for example, ethylene glycols, ethylene glycol ethers, ethylenecarbonates, and ethanol amines Since the present invention provides animproved epoxidation method, it is contemplated that the improvementsprovided will carry forward to provide improvements to these downstreamprocesses and/or products. Improved methods for the production of suchglycols, carbonates, ethers and ethanol amines are thus also providedherein.

The conversion of ethylene oxide into ethylene glycols or ethyleneglycol ethers may comprise, for example, reacting the ethylene oxidewith water, suitably in the presence of an acidic or basic catalyst. Forexample, for preferential production of the ethylene glycol over theethylene glycol ether, the ethylene oxide may be reacted with a tenfoldmolar excess of water, in a liquid phase reaction in the presence of anacid catalyst, e.g., 0.5-1.0 wt % sulfuric acid, based on the totalreaction mixture, at from about 50° C. to about 70° C. at 1 barabsolute, or in a gas phase reaction, at from about 130° C. to about240° C. and from about 20 bar to about 40 bar absolute, preferably inthe absence of a catalyst. If the proportion of water is lowered, theproportion of the ethylene glycol ethers in the reaction mixture will beincreased. The ethylene glycol ethers thus produced may comprisedi-ethers, tri-ethers, tetra-ethers or other multi-ethers. Alternativeethylene glycol ethers may be prepared by converting the ethylene oxidewith an alcohol, such as methanol or ethanol, or by replacing at least aportion of the water with the alcohol. The resulting ethylene glycolsand ethylene glycol ethers may be utilized in a wide variety of end-useapplications in the food, beverage, tobacco, cosmetic, thermoplasticpolymer, curable resin system, detergent, heat transfer system, etc.,industries.

The conversion of ethylene oxides produced via the method of the presentinvention into ethanol amines may comprise, for example, reacting theethylene oxide with ammonia. Anhydrous or aqueous ammonia may be used,although anhydrous ammonia favors the production of mono ethanol amine,and may be used when the same is preferred. The resulting ethanol aminesmay be used, for example, in the treatment of natural gas. The ethyleneoxide may be converted into the corresponding ethylene carbonate byreacting the ethylene oxide with carbon dioxide. If desired, an ethyleneglycol may be prepared by subsequently reacting the ethylene carbonatewith water or an alcohol to form the ethylene glycol. For applicablemethods, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,897.

TABLE 1 Carrier ID A B C D E F G H** I** Surface Area (m²/g) 1.35 0.890.87 1.19 0.85 1.29 0.97 0.80 0.94 Pore volume (cc/g) Est. 0.28 0.530.52 0.7 0.66 0.62 approx. 0.6 to 0.8 Water absorption (%) 28 54.1 52.452.6 53.3 Platelet morphology Y N N N N Y Y N Y (Y/N) XRF Analysis* (wt%) d d d Na <0.002 0.482 0.0637 <0.002 0.326 <0.002 <0.002 0.326 <0.002Al 52.77 52.39 52.61 52.69 51.37 52.07 52.74 51.37 52.07 Si 0.01160.0365 0.0702 0.0661 0.861 0.0274 0.0272 0.861 0.0274 P <0.002 <0.002<0.002 <0.002 0.0034 <0.002 <0.002 0.0034 <0.002 S 0.0021 <0.002 <0.002<0.002 <0.002 <0.002 0.0031 <0.002 <0.002 Cl 0.0235 0.0209 0.0211 0.01710.0267 0.0165 0.0197 0.0267 0.0165 K <0.002 0.0432 0.0094 0.0055 0.238<0.002 0.0045 0.238 <0.002 Ca 0.0245 0.0572 0.104 0.0847 0.134 0.01690.0165 0.134 0.0169 Ti 0.0593 0.0061 0.0083 0.0068 0.0072 0.0897 0.09210.0072 0.0897 V 0.0031 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002<0.002 Cr 0.0024 0.0022 0.0035 0.0044 0.0027 0.0022 <0.002 0.0027 0.0022Fe 0.0153 0.029 0.0398 0.0304 0.0378 0.0066 0.0055 0.0378 0.0066 Ni0.003 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 Zn <0.002<0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 0.0041 <0.002 <0.002 Ga 0.0023 0.010.0127 0.0067 0.0121 0.0025 0.0022 0.0121 0.0025 Sr <0.002 <0.002 0.0024<0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 Zr <0.002 <0.002 0.0021 0.00660.0023 0.942 <0.002 0.0023 0.942 Mo <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.0020.0029 <0.002 <0.002 0.0029 Hf <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 <0.002 0.0057<0.002 <0.002 0.0057 “d” indicates that the XRF analysis is for the sametype of carrier identified in Table 1, although not from the exactcarrier. *The compositional analysis of the supports are performed by asemi-quantitative X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) method. The analysis isperformed on whole support pills positioned in a sample cup, covered,and held in place with a 6 micron polypropylene film. The sampling areais purged with helium during acquisition, and the SuperQ Uniquantprogram analysis method on the Axios^(mAX)-Advance XRF instrument isused. **Carrier H is a blend of two batches of carrier prepared by thesame manufacturing process. The surface area and water absorption valuesreported above are the weighted average surface area and waterabsorption for the blend. Carrier I is a blend of two batches of carrierprepared by the same manufacturing process. The surface area and totalpore volume values reported above are the weighted average surface areaand total pore volume for the blend.

Carrier Preparation

Carrier A. Carrier pellets are prepared by paste extrusion. 1:1 CatapalB/Versal V-250 samples are made by adding 50 parts by weight of UOPVersal V-250, 50 parts by weight of Sasol Catapal B to a stainless steelmix-muller along with 6.5 parts by weight Methocel™ A4M and 3 parts byweight oleic acid. After mulling “dry” for 5 min, 64 parts by weight ofwater are added and then mulled “wet” for 15 min. The resulting pastemixture is extruded with a counter-rotating twin screw extruder at 120rpm through a die to form 5/16 inch diameter hollow pellets of equallength, with an inner diameter of 3/16 inch (dimensions after drying).The extruded pellets are dried at 60° C. in flowing air for 36 to 72 h.The dried extrudates are calcined in a 10 cubic foot Unitherm furnace.Between 1.5 and 2 kg of sample are placed in 10″×10″×4″ deep saggers. Upto 10 saggers are loaded in to the furnace. Samples are calcined to 700°C. Air is fed into the furnace at 150 SLPM (standard liters per minute).The furnace program is 1) heat from room temperature to 130° C. in 2 h,hold 130° C. for 3 h, heat from 130° C. to 500° C. in 12 h, heat from500° C. to 700° C. in 4 h, hold 700° C. for 2.5 h, then cool to 25° C.in 6 h. Due to its thermal mass, the Unitherm requires about 2 days tocool to below 40° C. After calcination the samples are weighed.

A 2 cubic foot graphite reactor is based on a Centorr/Vacuum IndustriesSeries 3700 Model 12″×12″×24″ graphite vacuum furnace. The furnace isplumbed to a gas handling system controlled by a control system. The gashandling system allows for the controlled addition of gases and theremoval and scrubbing of reactor process gas. The calcined samples areloaded into graphite boxes (10.75″×10.75″×1.75″) and then loaded intothe graphite reactor. The reactor is evacuated, and heated to theinitial reaction temperature 820° C., the evening before the reaction.The reactor and samples are held under a dynamic vacuum at the initialreaction temperature until the reaction is initiated the next morning.To initiate the reaction, HFC-134a is added to the reactor to a pressureof approximately 100 torr. After incubation for 3 hours at 820° C., thereactor is heated at 2° C./min to the final reaction temperature 930° C.The final reaction temperature is held for 2 hours before the reactor iscooled at about 5° C./min. When the temperature reaches 930° C., theautomatic purge/fill cycles are initiated. The automatic purge/fillcycle consists of evacuation to 50 torr followed by filling with N₂ to600 torr. A total of 6 cycles are performed. The reactor is allowed tocool. Nitrogen is evacuated from the reactor, the cooled reactor isfilled with air, opened, and the carrier removed. The carrier is thenheat treated. Heat treatment of the carrier is performed in an electricfurnace in air. The heating profile consists of a 5° C. min⁻¹ heatingramp to 800° C. This temperature is maintained for 2 h, after which timethe samples are allowed to cool to room temperature at approximately 10°C. min⁻¹.

Carrier B is a carrier available from Saint Gobain Norpro (Ohio USA)under the product code SA5502.

Carrier C is a carrier available from Saint Gobain Norpro under theproduct code SA5562.

Carrier D is a carrier available from Saint Gobain Norpro under theproduct code SA55333.

Carriers E and H are conventional alpha-alumina supports having theproperties set forth in Table 1 above.

Carriers F and I are provided by Saint-Gobain Norpro and prepared bymixing zirconium silicate with boehmite alumina (AlOOH) andgamma-alumina, peptizing the aluminas with a mixture containing anacidic component and fluoride anions, forming (for example, by extrudingor pressing) the mixture into pellets, drying the pellets, and calciningthe dried pellets.

Carrier G is provided by St Gobain Norpro and uses boehmite alumina(AlOOH) and gamma-alumina, peptizing the aluminas with a mixturecontaining an acidic component and fluoride anions, forming (forexample, by extruding or pressing) the mixture into pellets, drying thepellets, and calcining the dried pellets.

Carriers A, D, F, G and I are high purity carriers as defined in thisapplication.

Catalyst Preparation

The carriers are vacuum impregnated with a first impregnation silversolution typically containing up to 30 weight percent silver oxide, 18weight percent oxalic acid, 17 weight percent ethylenediamine, 6 weightpercent monoethanolamine, and 27 weight percent distilled water. Thefirst impregnation solution is typically prepared by (1) mixing 1.14parts of ethylenediamine (high purity grade) with 1.75 parts ofdistilled water; (2) slowly adding 1.16 parts of oxalic acid dihydrate(reagent grade) to the aqueous ethylenediamine solution such that thetemperature of the solution does not exceed 40° C., (3) slowly adding1.98 parts of silver oxide, and (4) adding 0.40 parts ofmonoethanolamine (Fe and Cl free).

The alpha-alumina carrier is impregnated under vacuum with the silverimpregnation solution. The carrier remains immersed in the silverimpregnation solution at ambient conditions for 5 to 30 minutes. Theimpregnated carrier is then taken out and thereafter drained of excesssolution for 10 to 30 minutes.

The impregnated carrier is then roasted to effect reduction of silver onthe carrier surface. For roasting, the impregnated carrier is spread outin a single layer on a stainless steel belt of spiral weave andtransported through a heating zone for 2.5 minutes. The heating zone ismaintained at 500° C. by passing hot air upward through the belt and theimpregnated carrier. After roasting in the heating zone, the impregnatedcarrier is kept in the open and brought to room temperature and weighed.

The impregnated carrier is vacuum impregnated with a second silverimpregnation solution. The second impregnation solution includes one ormore of the following promoters, depending upon the catalystformulation: manganese, rhenium, sodium, cesium, lithium, sulfate, andpotassium. Following the second impregnation, the impregnated carrier isdrained of excess solution and roasted as described previously.

The properties of the catalysts are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Cat No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carrier A A A B B C C Promoters K: 2039Re: 875 Mn: 72 Re: 446 Mn: 77 Re: 369 Mn: 80 (ppm) Mn: 251 Mn: 102 Cs:355 Mn: 88 Cs: 387 Mn: 45 Cs: 400 Cs: 794 Na: 32 Cs: 384 Na: 37 Cs: 678Na: 38 Na: 65 Li: 27 Na: 36 Li: 29 Na: 48 Li: 31 Li: 50 SO₄: Li: 29 SO₄:Li: 47 SO₄: 224 SO₄: 201 SO₄: 55 219 SO₄: 210 127 Silver (wt 35.8 35.236.3 16.7 18.1 29.35 28.7 % of catalyst) Cat No 8 9 10 11 12 13 D E F GH I Promoters Re: 378 Re: 378 Re: 978 K: 3 Cs: 571 Mn: 71 (ppm) Mn: 43Mn: 43 Mn: 115 Mn: 94 Na: Cs: 339 Cs: 567 Cs: 567 Cs: 835 Cs: 552 3691Na: 31 Li: 48 Li: 48 Na: 57 Li: 19 SO₄: Li: 24 SO₄: SO₄: 210 Li: 47 SO₄:860 SO4: 187 210 SO₄: 150 113 Silver 28.45 28.45 35.0 32.7 28.0 32.1(wt) % of catalyst)

For Catalysts 1-10, the catalyst composition is determined by massbalance. For Catalysts 11 and 12, the catalyst composition is determinedby XRF. For Catalyst 13, sodium, lithium and sulfate are determined bymass balance and manganese and cesium are determined by XRF.

Catalyst Testing Protocol

A standard back-mixed continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is used forcatalyst testing. Well known, CSTR, bottom-agitated reactors as shown inFIG. 2.4.4 of the work by J. M. Berty entitled “Experiments in CatalyticReaction Engineering”, “in Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis,Vol. 124, No. 5, pages 51, 1999, may be used.

For the examples below, each catalyst is tested under one of the sets ofConditions 1, 2, or 3 below. The Conditions listed below are the inletconditions and the reactor is operated at a constant temperature suchthat catalyst activity is measured by the delta ethylene oxideconcentration.

Ethylene Epoxidation Inlet Process Conditions

1 2 3 Component Mole % Mole % Mole % Ethylene 30.0 30.0 30.0 Oxygen 8.08.0 8.0 Ethane 0.75% 0.75 0 Carbon Dioxide 0 5.0 0% Nitrogen Balance ofgas Balance of gas Balance of gas Ethyl Chloride As provided in Asprovided As provided in Table 3 Table 3 in Table 3 NO 7 ppmv Total InletFlow 11.3 SCFH 11.3 SCFH 11.3 SCFH^(c) Rate

The pressure is maintained at about 275 psig (pounds per square inch,gauge) (2000 kPa absolute) and the total flow is maintained at about11.3 SCFH (Standard Cubic Feet per Hour). SCFH refers to cubic feet perhour at standard temperature and pressure, namely, 0° C. and oneatmosphere. LPH refers to liters per hour at standard temperature andpressure. The flow rate is calibrated with a nitrogen stream. A constantreactor temperature as given in Table 3 is maintained and catalystactivity is measured by the delta ethylene oxide concentration producedin the reactor. When water is added to the reactor inlet, it is fed as aliquid from a Gilson Model 307 pump through a 1/16″ stainless steeltubing fitting attached directly to the inlet gas inlet tubing of thereactor. The water is vaporized inside of the reactor prior tocontacting the catalyst. A sample of the gas at the inlet is taken priorto feeding the water. The inlet water concentration is set by thevolumetric flow rate from the pump and independently verified by theanalyzed water concentration on the reactor outlet. When feeding water,the inlet gas composition and inlet flow rate are adjusted or not asindicated in Table 3 to account for the added volumetric flow of thewater so that the inlet gas composition and reactor conditions aremaintained in the presence of the added inlet water.

The catalyst test procedure involves the following: approximately 40 cm³of catalyst is charged to the back-mixed CSTR and the weight of thecatalyst is noted. The back-mixed CSTR is heated to reaction temperaturein a nitrogen flow of 2-10 SCFH with the fan operating at 1500 rpm. Oncethe reactor has achieved the desired temperature, the nitrogen flow isreplaced by the above-described feed stream. The total gas inlet flow isthen adjusted to 11.3 SCFH for 40 cm³ of catalyst.

Data collected comparing catalyst performance in the presence andabsence of water in the feed is obtained from a CSTR operating at theconditions described. The analysis of the reactor inlet and outlet gascomposition is obtained from a Thermo Scientific Prima dB process massspectrometer. The analysis method utilized may or may not specificallyanalyze the water content in the gas streams; it is desirable if wateris analyzed because this can provide a method of independently verifyingthat the water introduction system is operating nominally. The waterintroduction system to the reactor, as noted, introduces water after thereactor inlet gas composition is analyzed. Therefore, the presence ofwater in the feed can be determined by comparing the measured outletwater composition to the carbon dioxide concentration produced by thereaction; a higher measured water concentration in the reactor outletthan measured concentration of carbon dioxide produced by the reactionis an independent verification that the water feed system is functioningproperly and also provides a validation of the inlet waterconcentration. The concentration of water in the reactor inlet andoutlet gas concentration must be accounted for in the reportednormalized gas concentrations from the process mass spectrometer forproper calculation of delta concentrations, balances, and catalystefficiencies.

For the data analysis, the data points, corresponding to approximately11 hours of stable reactor operation, are selected. For conditions wherewater is being fed, the last 20 data points collected while water isbeing fed are selected to correspond to the “water on” condition. Oncewater feed is terminated, a period of time is allowed for the reactorperformance to stabilize and 20 additional data points corresponding tothe “water off” condition are selected for analysis. (Catalyst 5 hadonly 12 data points due to an unplanned laboratory shut-down.) The datais then analyzed for statistical outliers and these are eliminated fromfurther analysis. The average measured ΔEO concentrations (%) and carbonefficiencies (%) for each of these “water on” and “water off” conditionsare then calculated and analyzed.

Results of this analysis are shown in Table 3. Also shown is thecalculated standard error of the mean calculated from the data setsanalyzed; this provides an indication of the error of the measured mean.

TABLE 3 Catalyst No. 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 Ethylene Epoxidation Inlet Process 31 2 2 3 1 2 Condition Parameter Measured ΔActivity Water on-Water off (%ΔEO) 0.057 0.17 0.12 −0.056 0.030 −0.10 −0.069 Δ Carbon Efficiency Wateron-Water 0.19 1.00 −1.94 −0.34 −0.026 1.00 −0.70 off Δ Activity -Standard Error 0.0011 0.0094 0.0063 0.0049 0.018 0.0026 0.0094 ΔEfficiency - Standard Error 0.012 0.044 0.071 0.027 0.12 0.044 0.061Activity (% DEO) “Water On” 1.86 1.54 1.84 2.14 2.38 1.51 1.14 % CarbonSelectivity “Water On” 85.91 87.33 79.77 77.64 76.86 80.27 73.95 % ΔEOStandard Error of the Mean - 0.00096 0.0094 0.0035 0.0048 0.017 0.00180.0084 Water On % Carbon Efficiency Standard Error of 0.0099 0.042 0.0420.024 0.11 0.035 0.042 the Mean - Water on Activity (% DEO) “Water off”1.81 1.36 1.72 2.20 2.35 1.62 1.21 % Carbon efficiency “Water off” 85.7286.33 81.71 77.98 76.89 79.27 74.65 % ΔEO Standard Error of the Mean -0.00059 0.00045 0.0052 0.00088 0.0048 0.0018 0.0042 Water Off % CarbonEfficiency Standard Error of 0.0074 0.011 0.057 0.0 0.034 0.027 0.044the Mean - Water Off Catalyst Weight (g) 34.3 32.0 30.1 32.0 32.0 43.441.2 Reaction Temperature (° C.) 240 230 235 235 240 237 245Compensation for water (Y/N) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Ethyl chloride (ppmv) 5 2.2 55 5 1.8 5 Catalyst No. 6 7 8 9 Ethylene Epoxidation Inlet ProcessCondition 1 2 1 1 Parameter Measured ΔActivity Water on - Water off (%ΔEO) −0.037 −0.081 0.050 −0.12 Δ Carbon Efficiency Water on - Water off−0.24 −1.56 0.0059 −0.72 Δ Activity - Standard Error 0.0015 0.00610.0028 0.0090 Δ Efficiency - Standard Error 0.024 0.074 0.037 0.049Activity (% DEO) “Water On” 1.33 1.70 1.93 1.27 % Carbon Selectivity“Water On” 82.52 77.35 81.31 77.86 % ΔEO Standard Error of the Mean -Water On 0.14 0.0052 0.0025 0.0067 % Carbon Efficiency Standard Error ofthe Mean - 0.04 0.030 0.035 0.044 Water on Activity (% DEO) “Water off”1.33 1.78 1.88 1.39 % Carbon efficiency “Water off” 82.76 78.91 81.3178.58 % ΔEO Standard Error of the Mean - Water Off 0.00060 0.0032 0.00130.0060 % Carbon Efficiency Standard Error of the Mean - 0.19 0.067 0.0120.023 Water Off Catalyst Weight (g) 37.3 37.3 29.9 23.7 ReactionTemperature (° C.) 237 235 245 245 Compensation for water (Y/N) Y Y N NEthyl chloride (ppm) 1.8 5 3.1 4.2 Catalyst No. 10 11 12 13 EthyleneEpoxidation Inlet Process Condition 1 2 2 2 Parameter Measured ΔActivityWater on - Water off (% ΔEO) 0.16 −0.19 −0.18 −0.11 Δ Carbon EfficiencyWater on - Water off −0.044 0.36 −0.44 −0.53 Δ Activity - Standard Error0.0012 0.0056 0.0015 0.0015 Δ Efficiency - Standard Error 0.012 0.0650.022 0.027 Activity (% DEO) “Water On” 1.74 1.99 1.62 1.90 % CarbonSelectivity “Water On” 87.66 79.35 76.95 79.07 % ΔEO Standard Error ofthe Mean - Water On 0.00093 0.0052 0.00093 0.0013 % Carbon EfficiencyStandard Error of the Mean - 0.0091 0.058 0.019 0.025 Water on Activity(% DEO) “Water off” 1.58 2.18 1.81 2.01 % Carbon efficiency “Water off”87.70 78.98 77.39 79.60 % ΔEO Standard Error of the Mean - Water Off0.00069 0.0021 0.0011 0.00085 % Carbon Efficiency Standard Error of theMean - 0.0073 0.029 0.010 0.011 Water Off Catalyst Weight (g) 32.4 33.232.4 32.9 Reaction Temperature (° C.) 240 235 245 235 Compensation forwater (Y/N) N N N N Ethyl chloride (ppm) 3.7 3.5 5.5 5

Hypothetical Example

Approximately 4.4 kg of an ethylene oxide catalyst are charged to eachtube of a multi-tubular ethylene oxide reactor having reactor tubes withinside diameter of 1.28 inches and a depth of 18.8 feet. The catalystcomprises a catalytically effective amount of silver supported on a highpurity carrier, and a promoting amount of cesium, sodium, lithium,sulfate, manganese and rhenium. The inlet gas pressure is 1550 kPaabsolute. A gas mixture is passed through the catalyst bed. The gashourly space velocity is 5000 hr⁻¹. The composition of the gas mixturecomprises 30 mole percent ethylene, 8 mole percent oxygen, 0.5 molepercent carbon dioxide, water, ethyl chloride at a concentrationadjusted to maintain optimal selectivity and methane as ballast gas. Theinitial water vapor partial pressure at the inlet of the reactor isbelow 8 kPa. The components of this gas mixture are subsequentlycontacted within the reactor with the catalyst.

The reaction temperature is initially targeted at 225° C. and thenadjusted so as to achieve a desired rate of ethylene oxide productionper volume of catalyst. The efficiency for ethylene oxide productionexceeds 85.7%.

The reactor yields a reactor outlet gas mixture comprising ethyleneoxide, ethylene, oxygen, water and carbon dioxide. The reactor outletgas mixture is provided to an ethylene oxide absorber to produce anethylene oxide stream and a treated gas stream comprising water andcarbon dioxide. A portion of the treated gas stream is provided to acarbon dioxide absorber unit. The carbon dioxide absorber unit isoperated to produce a recycle gas stream comprising carbon dioxide andwater. Substantially all of the recycle gas stream from the carbondioxide absorber unit is combined with fresh feeds comprising oxygen,ethylene, as well as the majority of the remaining portion of thetreated gas stream to form the reactor inlet gas mixture.

After the production 2500 kmole of ethylene oxide per cubic meter ofcatalyst, the partial pressure of the water vapor at the reactor inletis increased to above 8 kPa, and the inlet ethyl chloride concentrationis re-optimized. The reaction temperature is decreased to maintain thedesired rate of ethylene oxide production per volume of catalyst and theefficiency is observed to increase. The partial pressure of the watervapor at the reactor inlet is continuously maintained at above 8 kPa forthe further production of at least 250 kmole of ethylene oxide per cubicmeter of catalyst.

EXAMPLE

A catalyst comprising a catalytically effective amount of silversupported on a high purity carrier and promoting amounts of at least onegroup IA metal and rhenium is operated in a plug flow reactor, achievinga total production of approximately 55000 kmoles of EO per cubic meterof catalyst. After achieving this production, the catalyst is dischargedin eight sequential sections. Approximately 42.5 cc of the fifth section(toward the reactor outlet) is charged into a CSTR (back-mixed) reactorand heated to 200° C. under a nitrogen flow. Upon reaching that targettemperature, water is added at the reactor inlet to this nitrogen flowfor one hour, with a target water concentration of 1.2% in the totalreactor inlet gas, whereupon the nitrogen gas to the reactor is replacedwith an inlet gas feed mixture having a target composition (as measuredby mass spectrometric analysis of the inlet gas mixture upstream of thewater addition point) of 30.4% ethylene, 0.4% ethane, 8.1% oxygen, 3.2ppm ethyl chloride, a balance of nitrogen, a pressure of 275 psig (2000kPa absolute), and a total flow of 10.7 SCFH (standard cubic feet perhour). The reactor temperature is then increased to 255° C. As thereactor temperature is being increased, the flow rates of the feed gasesare fine tuned so that the calculated inlet feed concentrationsdownstream of the water addition point are 30% ethylene, 8% oxygen, 0.4%ethane, and 1.2% water (a partial pressure of 24 kPa water), with theinlet ethyl chloride concentration being adjusted over the next few daysto maximize catalyst selectivity to ethylene oxide at this temperature.The catalyst average performance during 12 hour operation at this ethylchloride concentration measures 1.8% Delta EO and selectivity of 85.0%.Water to the feed is then shut off, the total flow rate of the feed gasmixture is increased to 10.8 SCFH so that the overall inlet flow rateremains the same in the absence of added water, and the other feeds areadjusted so that their inlet concentrations remain the same in theabsence of added water. The inlet ethyl chloride concentration is thenvaried to again maximize the selectivity. Under these conditions, theaverage catalyst performance during 12 hours operation is 1.6% Delta EOand selectivity of 84.4%.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of producing ethylene oxide comprising:a) providing to a reactor a reactor inlet gas mixture comprisingethylene, oxygen, one or more gas phase promoters, water and carbondioxide, wherein the one or more gas phase promoters are organicchlorides, the components of the gas mixture subsequently beingcontacted within the reactor under epoxidation reaction conditions witha catalyst comprising a catalytically effective amount of silversupported on a high purity carrier, a promoting amount of at least oneGroup IA metal, and a promoting amount of rhenium; b) yielding from thereactor a reactor outlet gas mixture comprising ethylene oxide,ethylene, oxygen, water and carbon dioxide; c) providing at least aportion of the reactor outlet gas mixture to an ethylene oxide absorberto produce an ethylene oxide stream and a treated gas stream comprisingwater and carbon dioxide; d) providing at least a portion of the treatedgas stream to a carbon dioxide absorber unit; e) operating the carbondioxide absorber unit to produce a recycle gas stream comprising carbondioxide and water; and f) combining at least a portion of the recyclegas stream from the carbon dioxide absorber unit with fresh feedscomprising oxygen and ethylene and at least a portion of a remainingportion, if any, of the treated gas stream, to form the reactor inletgas mixture, wherein:  (i) a partial pressure of water vapor at thereactor inlet is at least 8 kPa; and  (ii) the partial pressure of watervapor at the reactor inlet is continuously maintained at a value of atleast 8 kPa over a period corresponding to the production of at least250 kmole of ethylene oxide per cubic meter of catalyst.
 2. A method ofproducing ethylene oxide comprising: a) providing to a reactor a reactorinlet gas mixture comprising ethylene, an oxygen-containing gas, one ormore gas phase promoters, water and carbon dioxide, wherein the one ormore gas phase promoters are organic chlorides, the components of thegas mixture subsequently being contacted within the reactor underepoxidation reaction conditions with a catalyst comprising acatalytically effective amount of silver supported on a high puritycarrier, a promoting amount of at least one Group IA metal, and apromoting amount of rhenium; b) yielding from the reactor a reactoroutlet gas mixture comprising ethylene oxide, ethylene, oxygen, waterand carbon dioxide; c) providing at least a portion of the reactoroutlet gas mixture to an ethylene oxide absorber to produce an ethyleneoxide stream and a treated gas stream comprising water and carbondioxide; d) combining at least a portion of the treated gas stream withfresh feeds comprising ethylene and providing at least a portion of thecombined stream to a carbon dioxide absorber unit; e) operating thecarbon dioxide absorber unit to produce a recycle gas stream comprisingcarbon dioxide and water; and f) combining at least a portion of therecycle gas stream from the carbon dioxide absorber unit with freshfeeds comprising oxygen and at least a portion of a remaining portion,if any, of the treated gas stream, to form the reactor inlet gasmixture, wherein:  (i) a partial pressure of water vapor at the reactorinlet is at least 8 kPa; and  (ii) the partial pressure of water vaporat the reactor inlet is continuously maintained at a value of at least 8kPa over a period corresponding to the production of at least 250 kmoleof ethylene oxide per cubic meter of catalyst.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one Group IA metal comprises cesium and/or lithium.4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one Group IA metalcomprises cesium and lithium.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the rateof ethylene oxide production per volume of catalyst is maintained orincreased as compared to the rate of ethylene oxide production pervolume of catalyst of the same catalyst under the same epoxidationreaction conditions except that the partial pressure of water vapor atthe reactor inlet is less than 8 kPa.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinthe rate of ethylene oxide production per volume of catalyst isincreased as compared to the rate of ethylene oxide production pervolume of the same catalyst under the same epoxidation reactionconditions except that the partial pressure of water vapor at thereactor inlet is less than 8 kPa.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein theselectivity of the reaction to ethylene oxide is maintained or increasedas compared to the selectivity of the same catalyst under the sameepoxidation reaction conditions except that the partial pressure ofwater vapor at the reactor inlet is less than 8 kPa.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the selectivity of the reaction to ethylene oxide isincreased as compared to the selectivity of the same catalyst under thesame epoxidation reaction conditions except that the partial pressure ofwater vapor at the reactor inlet is less than 8 kPa.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the partial pressure of water vapor at the reactorinlet is no more than 60 kPa.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein thecatalyst is a high selectivity catalyst.
 11. A method for making anethylene glycol, an ethylene glycol ether, an ethylene carbonate or anethanolamine comprising: obtaining an ethylene oxide by a method for theproduction of ethylene oxide according claim 1; and converting theethylene oxide into an ethylene glycol, an ethylene glycol ether or anethanolamine.